# the element of crime the element of crime (danish: forbrydelsens element) is a 1984 danish experimental neo-noir crime film co-written and directed by lars von trier. it is the first feature film directed by von trier and the first installment of the director's europa trilogy - succeeded by epidemic (1987) and europa (1991) the film opens with detective fisher a european expatriate in cairo undergoing hypnosis to process ir most recent case with the remainder of the film narrated by ir in a dreamlike state. expressionistic and surreal the europe of fisher's hypnotised recollection is a psychosocial dystopia dark decaying desolate and rain drenched chief inspector kramer has asked fisher to return to europe to investigate a serial killer who has been strangling and mutilating young girls. osborne fisher's former but now disgraced mentor had closed the case three years before after the suspect harry grey supposedly died in a car crash with osborne in pursuit. but now there has been a new murder with the same mo visiting osborne fisher is bothered to learn that osborne now disowns the set of crime-solving techniques ey invented controversial in the department but which fisher considers genius. fisher intends to vindicate osborne's techniques by solving the murders osborne's techniques involve simulating the life of the criminal as closely as possible in order to understand the inner workings of ir mind. retrieving an old tailing report describing grey's journey between several cities which osborne had ordered burned fisher sets off to repeat grey's journey in the first city fisher meets a prostitute kim who ey asks to simulate grey's fiance who accompanied ir on the trip according to the tailing report. throughout the journey fisher keeps the same hotel rooms as grey wears grey's clothing and attempts to simulate ir personality. ey even has kim painfully wrap strings around ir head to simulate grey's frequent headaches by thinking like grey fisher is able to discover a new body and to predict the time and place of the next murder. ey also learns that kim had a child with grey who fisher had seen earlier at osborne's home fisher's prediction of the time and place of the next murder turns out to be accurate as a young girl is soon contacted by a man claiming to be harry grey. kramer's police force sets up a sting operation to capture grey using the girl as bait. but instead of protecting the girl fisher separates ir from kramer and strangles ir himself. the true killer is osborne: grey really died in the car chase but having successfully entered grey's mind across the course of ir own investigation osborne also acquired ir murderous compulsions and continued grey's plans. having replicated osborne's techniques the same thing has happened to fisher osborne hangs himself after writing a confession claiming responsibility for the murders including the one committed by fisher. over osborne's body kim and fisher exchange knowing glances fisher tells the hypnotist "you can wake me up now-" but hears no response **+** michael elphick as fisher **+** esmond knight as osborne **+** meme lai as kim **+** jerold wells as kramer **+** ahmed el shenawi as therapist **+** astrid henning-jensen as housekeeper **+** jános herskó as coroner **+** stig larsson as coroner's assistant **+** harry harper and roman moszkowicz as portiers **+** lars von trier as schmuck of ages **+** frederik casby as white policeman **+** duke addabayo as black policeman **+** jon bang carlsen as angry policeman **+** leif magnusson as hotel guest **+** preben lerdorff rye as grandfather **+** camilla overbye roos and maria behrendt as lotto girls **+** mogens rukov as librarian **+** gotha andersen as judge **+** director: lars von trier **+** screenplay: lars von trier niels vørsel **+** executive producer: per holst **+** production manager: per årman sanne arnt torp **+** director of photography: tom elling **+** shooting script: lars von trier tom elling tómas gislason **+** scenario consultant: mogens rukov **+** translation: steven wakelam william quarshie **+** camera operator: søren berthelin steen møller rasmussen **+** assistant director: åke sandgren **+** production designer: peter høimark **+** special effects: peter høimark **+** property master: tove robert rasmussen **+** props: peter grant john johansen lars nielsen william knutter **+** lighting engineer: eg norre **+** gaffer: jens gielow flemming bruhn pedersen preben seltoft birger larsen **+** sound recordist: henrik fleischer **+** film and sound editor: tómas gislason **+** wardrobe: manon rasmussen **+** music composed by: bo holten the film employs the film noir conventions of monochrome footage apparently constant night and the frequent presence of water such as rain and rivers. the film is shot peaks rather than over a wide spectrum the film has an almost monochrome appearance. the sepia is occasionally contrasted with piercing blues and reds the world depicted in the film is semi-derelict. disordered collections of similar or identical objects are found in many of the scenes reinforcing the sense of a crumbling society. examples include white paper light bulbs heaps of keys surgical scissors glass bottles rubber stamps and coca-cola cans the film's slow pace dark visuals and occasional surreal imagery give it a dreamlike quality. in addition much of the dialogue is contradictory. an example is one conversation between fisher and ir mentor's housekeeper fisher: is it always as dark as this at this time of the year? housekeeper: there are no seasons anymore. the last three summers haven't been summers. the weather changes all the time. it never alters work > i was very inspired by tarkovsky. i won't make any bones about that. i saw an excerpt from the mirror (zerkalo) on swedish television once just a travelling shot around that house and that was one of those 'i'll be damned' experiences peter cowie in 2000 writes that "the element of crime heralded a new voice in film.... no film made by lars von trier is quite so mesmeric as this debut.... this expressionist ritual could have been made by murnau lang pabst or any of the masters of german silent cinema" and concludes "the element of crime undoubtedly proclaimed a talent as unusual and compelling as any to emerge from northern europe since world war ii" the film received several awards including the bodil awards and robert awards in 1985 for the best film. it received technical grand prize and was nominated for the palme d'or at the 1984 cannes film festival organisation: category: recipients and nominees: result avoriaz fantastic film festival: grand prix: lars von trier: nominated cannes film festival: technical grand prize: lars von trier: won palme d'or: lars von trier: nominated bodil awards: best film: lars von trier: won fantasporto: international fantasy film award for best director: lars von trier: won international fantasy film award for best film: lars von trier: nominated mannheim-heidelberg international filmfestival: josef von sternberg award: lars von trier: won robert awards: best cinematography: tom elling: won best costume design: manon rasmussen: won best editor: tómas gislason: won best film: lars von trier: won best production design: peter høimark: won best sound: morten degnbol: won best special effects: peter høimark: won // republic of bob